Latin American and Latino/a Studies Gift Fund

The Latin American and Latino/a Studies Gift Fund exists to support the scholarly and professional development of students minoring in Latin American and Latino/a Studies.

Students in good academic standing and a faculty reference may apply for mini-grants (up to $500) to support academic conference attendance or participation, study abroad, internships, and major research projects, or student-faculty collaborative research projects.

Only Latin American and Latino/a Studies minors with an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher may apply, and applicants will need to submit the following:

A one- or two-page proposal describing the activity in need of funding. This funding may be requested for participation in an academic conference, expenses related to studying abroad, a stipend for an internship, costs related to research for a senior thesis or capstone project, or a student-faculty collaborative research project. The proposed activity must be related to the study of Latin America, the Caribbean, or issues related to US Latinos/as.

Itemized budget, including anticipated funding from other sources.

Curriculum vitae.

Supporting material demonstrating validity of proposed activity (e.g., official acknowledgement of attendance to or participation in a conference, proof of internship position, description of thesis, capstone assignment, or collaborative project from the professor responsible for overseeing the research).

Please submit items 1 through 4 as separate PDF documents via email to Area Studies staff at areastudies@gvsu.edu, with the following subject line: Application to the LAS Gift Fund. Identify the kind of document sent in the message body (for example, the attached is the proposal, budget, etc.). The faculty member with submit the letter of support directly to the same email address.

Applications for funding activities in the Fall semester are due August 15th, for Winter semester, October 15th, and for Spring/Summer semesters, March 15th.

The LAS Executive Committee will decide within a month after the due date whether or not to grant funds depending on the merits of the application and the availability of the funds. Students may apply more than once to this fund, but those who have yet to receive support from the Gift Fund will be given priority.

Upon completion of the funded activity, LAS Gift Fund recipients will submit a one-page report to Area Studies (areastudies@gvsu.edu) that briefly summarizes the activity and discusses its relevance to the LAS minor.

If you have any questions about this fund and the application process, please contact: